For all the time we spending using calendars, todo lists, and organization tools both digital and analog. It is very apparent that most of them force the user to bend to the will of the program and its capabilities. Peek offers a “more human” approach that includes smile intuitive touch interactions paired with fun sounds and a shake for a recommendation of sorts that is the delight calendars have been missing. Some of the things that a user may encounter could help make you a better friend or make you enjoy life a little more fully. Kudos to the folks at Peek for taking a different approach to a, usually mundane digital product. Pop over to the App Store and give it a try.

I have spoken before about how I envision Google Glass as an empowering force to to see or explore places people otherwise may not get a chance to visit. That said we can’t forget about the continued work Google is doing to expand the scope of both actual roads and specific locations accessible through their maps feature Street View. A recent addition is Street View Venice a very rich hands on exploratory look at the famous Venice, Italy. From the canals, to tiny bridges and famous squares Google SV capture this historical city in a way that will most likely never be replicated or out done.

FiftyThree has had such a great trajectory and continued success since they launched Paper, which was their first product. It went on to be named App of the Year by Apple and even lead to a collaboration with Moleskine to deliver their second product ‘Book’. Now in a way they are trying to complete the circle or at the very least round out their product offering with the beautifully crafted wooden styles. Simply called Pencil Stylus. The implement both improves the user experience of the Paper app and makes the tactility of using the app far more pleasing. Not to mention the Pencil Stylus is made of a beautiful wood with a very visible grain and a rich dark varnish. Also make sure to watch the video after the jump.

I think it is pretty obvious that we lean towards the minimalist end of things whenever possible. So when I saw Coin for the first time last week you can imagine how excited I was. Being able to easily put the entire mess of different debit, credit and loyalty cards onto one simple and durable card is a dream come true. Of course I went ahead and pre-ordered one! The other thing that really stood out to me was how succinct their entire product and marketing strategy is. Can’t wait to see what they do in the future.

Do you know what the largest growing waste stream in the world is? It is computer and electronic waste. So why shouldn’t we make open source platforms for these devices that help minimize this waste? The answer is we definitely should and Phonebloks is hoping to do that. An open platform with customizable and interchangeable components to both make your phone fit your lifestyle and usage, but also more importantly it is a way to keep us from having to upgrade an entire device every year or two. I am excited to see the future of Phonebloks and hopefully they can inform a revolution in tech manufacturing.

During the 20th century air travel accelerated to the forefront of travel both in comfort and technology. That acceleration slowed towards the close of the century and then seemed to come to grinding halt after 9/11. British Airways and Designworks are shining a little light on the gloomy tech starved air travel industry. Together they have created the first electronic bag tag. The tag will allow you to track your bag at all times during your journey. Despite the promise of this smart little gadget, due to the disarray of the global airline industry it is highly unlikely that it will ever be put into use industry wide.

There are very few machines in the world which execute perfection so brilliantly. In cel­e­bra­tion of 90 years of BMW Motor­rad and 40 years of the R90S design they created the BMW R90S Homage Bike. To make this concept a reality BMW called on Roland Sands Design. The bike features a classic cafe racer style chock full of modern tech and custom parts by RSD, which meld together to create this majestic machine.

We have all been captivated by the images obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope for more than twenty years. In development for almost the same length of time the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will surpass the capturing capabilities of Hubble by a nearly immeasurable amount. Once launched JWST will be able to see the Universe’s very first star formations which took place 100 to 250 million years after the Big Bang.

Instead of following the “surf porn” trend of capturing Owen Wright slashing through waves and blasting into the air. Matt Titone and Ron Thompson of ITAL/C had a different idea. They were inspired, instead to creat The Anatomy of Owen Wright. A short infographic animation of the Herculean surfer. The data and visualizations compare Wright’s physiology to other professional athletes and also point out the vast differences between him and other notable competitors in his field. There usage or reference to the Vitruvian Man is appropriate and also extremely well executed.

The always inspiring guys over at Teehan+Lax have a new self initiated project that stemmed from one of their motion designers. The resulting project, Google Street View Hyperlapse is a user interface for creating your own hyper-lapse with Google’s Street View data. They have kept the sites settings low on purpose to make it more accessible, but have also made all the source code available through Github for anyone who wants to experiment with it or dig deeper.

Inflatable tent systems are a recent development in camping gear tech, which has really changed what is possible. The Wedge Tent by HEIMPLANET is a close relative of their previously released Cave Tent which are both based on inflatable exoskeletal structures. These inflatable systems are heavily focused on intuitive use and simple set-up. The Wedge design also features special characteristics to maintain stability in high winds. Despite all of these amazing features the tent still packs light and compact, which is a necessity when you are on the trail or road.

Having been an avid TeuxDeux user since it launched it makes me very happy to hear they are taking it to the next level. Sure this means they are going to start charging a subscription fee, but they aren’t just starting to charge for an already existing product. The whole TeuxDeux team worked over the last few months to rebuild the entire app from the ground up and make an entirely new iPhone app. It is one of the greatest apps available and is run by super talented and amazing group of individuals right here in Brooklyn.

Christoph Niemann is by far one of my favorite illustrators. The simplicity and ingenuity that his work overflows with is always fascinating and inspiring. When I bumped into this Petting Zoo picture book app he created for the Design Indaba I was of course immediately engrossed. Each animal has a few different gestures which provoke interesting movement, sound and transfiguration in to the cute little critters. It is a $1.99 so for those of you who aren’t overly enthused you may want to just settle for watching the video.

I think just about every New Yorker is aware that for the past several years the MTA has been tunneling beneath the length of second avenue. This collection of images is an amazing, and rare journalistic look at what they are doing below our feet. One of the most captivating parts of these images is the technology that made them possible. All of the shots were taken on a Nikon D4 at between ISO 3200 – 5000. This simply would have been impossible to achieve just a few short years ago. View the entire collection of images over on Flickr.

Of all the cool new interface experiments out there Google Glass is in my opinion the one with the greatest chances of disrupting the norm. It is also one of the most different marriages of product and interface that has been unveiled in the past few years. Through the super powerful and realistic point-of-view capturing people will be able to to see the world through each others glasses. If in the future viewing the world through other peoples eyes becomes more of a convention it will have some interesting potential effects on social disparity and anthropology. If you are interested in trying to get your hands on them you can hashtag a tweet to #ifihadglass or a Google+ post on +ProjectGlass telling them what you would do if you had a pair.

When it comes to interfaces and interactions we can all agree that IDEO can often be accredited with some of the more delicate and user centered advances. Their new app Mailbox aims to clear the clunky and overwhelming nature of email. With some really great little details this app allows users to make it to the refreshing island of inbox zero on a daily basis. Also it integrates a way to differ messages until a later date so you can keep them off your mind until they need to be addressed.

I find myself coming across great design for nonprofits ever more frequently these days. Together is a new iPad application launched by World Wildlife Fund. Designed by the talented folks over at AKQA the app allows users to explore images and interesting facts about the most rare and endangered animals on earth. In addition to the app interface being completely outstanding it is made even better by the stunning photography of Morten Koldby.

Touch interface is no longer a fresh new thing. However interaction designers and product designers are coming up with fun and captivating ways to employ it for interacting and manipulating things. SphereTones is a great example of this. It is certainly not the first or even in the first dozen touch interface music applications. But the way users tweak and alter different spheres is a nice playful interaction, which allows them to change the tempo and sound created by each sphere. Currently only available on the Android platform, you can get your hands on SphereTones over on Google Play.

Let’s start the day with some light hearted comedy. We can definitely all agree that the amount of physical and perceivable garbage grows an insurmountably everyday. Despite using it almost on a daily basis, I know Twitter greatly contributes to this stream of refuse. Instead of letting this continue comedian Tina Fey has a much more interesting idea. Listen to Tina’s thoughts on Twitter and how to control it.

The amazing gents of Fictive Kin launched Done Not Done the newest addition to their suite of web applications. I have been looking for a social list making tool that would allow me to track things I have done along with things I want to do. Thank you Fictive Kin for continuing to make the internet a better place. Go get the app here.